Works for Me Wednesday!

So Shannon wants to know what works for us.....many things I would say, there's so many little shortcuts and helpful things to make my life easier, but for today I'll stick to the NUMBER one helper.

See I love watching tv and I love recording a show that I don't have time to sit through and I ALSO love having it accessible on my computer so that I can upload it online and share it with friends and family.

So what exactly am I talking about? Hauppauge WinTV2000. It's a TV card for your computer, it only costs $75 dollars and all you need to do is buy it, install it on your computer and then plug your cable tv into it.


It's been the best thing I ever did, because really who wants to fight over the tv with the kids or the husband? Everyone wants to watch something different and this way I get to blog, pay bills or surf the internet AND have the news or Food Network or whatever in the background.

When I want to schedule a show, I just go to the WinTV Scheduler program that comes with, tell it which channel and what time to start recording and ending and go on my way. It does everything for me, it records the show to my computer, it turns off the TV once it's done...it's just great.


So there you go, this is what works for me. If you have a great tip to share just go on over to Shannon's blog and add your name to Mr Linky. Be prepared to be there for a LONG time, there's so many entries. LOL

Works for me Wednesday *Christmas Edition*

Wow, it's been forever since I've participated in the WFMW.....just haven't had the time, but being that this is a special Christmas Edition, I didn't want to pass it up :)

Being a military family means that we are constantly on the move and always far from our families, which makes it really really hard during the holidays, especially when hubby is deployed too and it's just me and the kids.

So about 5 years ago I came up with a way to make it feel like the family is here with us during the holidays. I started hanging up ornaments with the names of all the family members that can't be with us, whether because they live far away or have passed on :)

It's become a tradition for us to hang up these ornaments and remember every family member, always brings a smile to my face.

Now if you're crafty, you can really get into it, but they're pretty easy to make. All you need is colored ball ornaments, some glitter and some permanent markers, some ribbon or anything else you want to put on there. For years mine looked like this:

But with kids, it meant that half of them were broken or simply vanished into thin air. So this year, I'm turning them into a garland, I'm going to cut out some felt christmas shapes and either write or embroider the names on, then use some twine to string it all together. Voila!!!

I got the idea from this Thanksgiving Garland that I'm making right now. :)

If you want to play along and post your own WFMW idea, just head on over to Shannon at "Rocks in my Dryer". :)

Works for Me Wednesday!!!

It's time for another WFMW and this time I had no problem thinking up one. It's one I've been using for the past few weeks and really came across it in a sort of desperate way, trying to keep things easy and simple for me.

It has to do with Prayer and praying for others, especially our blogging friends.

When I started meeting all these wonderful people online, I wanted to pray for them, for whatever they were needing at that time, just for their well being in general, or for their specific requests. But, I was finding that I couldn't keep up, I would tell them that I would pray for them, but then go on to another blog or my home life and forget about it, or get to nighttime and struggle to remember who I was praying for that day and for what.

So I started keeping a piece of blank A4 paper, that I tape to the door of my computer armoire. Throughout the day, I jot down the names of anyone that needs a prayer said for them, that way at bed time, I take the paper down with me. No more forgetting who and what I was praying about. This is the one I started just this morning:

Another thing I do, is, when I come across a blog that is asking for a prayer in specific, I say the prayer right there and then, write their name on the paper and THEN I comment back. I have found that this way, I never forget to do it, and hey, this way I not only pray for them once but twice and what could be better than that huh??? Works for Me!!!!

If you want to join in, just go on over to Rocks in My Dryer and add your name to the list :)